Chapter 16
“Zara, be careful. I’ll carry you home.” Julian’s voice was gentle but insistent.
Beneath the winter pine tree, only withered branches and lingering shadows remained. The moonlight bathed them from behind, casting their figures in a soft, ethereal glow. Suddenly, a familiar silhouette emerged from the darkness, halting Zara in her tracks.
Her reddened eyes widened slightly, her lashes damp from the cold. “Landon?”
Snowflakes clung to the strands of black hair on the man standing before her. His face was pale, his expression dazed–a man who seemed as though he had lost everything. He stood frozen, taking in the scene before him: Zara nestled in another man’s embrace.
It felt as though a lifetime had passed since they had stood this close to one another.
Landon’s voice, rough and uncertain, broke the silence. “Zara, why did you come back to Westfield?”
Zara hadn’t expected to run into him here. She had prepared herself for the possibility, but seeing him now–she felt nothing.
She answered simply, her voice indifferent. “Why are you here? Aren’t you with Cassidy?*
Landon froze for a second before shaking his head. “No… Cassidy and I are just friends.”
‘Friends?‘ Zara nearly laughed.
It was hard to believe that a “friend” could have been the reason he had hurt her over and
over again.
Landon’s eyes were filled with something that looked like regret–heavy, suffocating. “I regret it. Can you-”
He didn’t finish, but Zara already knew what he wanted to say.
Before she could respond, Julian’s voice cut through the cold night air. “No, she won’t. Zara will never agree to be with you again. You should give up now.”
His dark eyes were cold, his lashes trembling slightly. There was an unmistakable chill in his gaze.
*Zara, come on, let’s go back. Time to go home.” Julian’s stance was firm, shielding Zara from Landon’s reach as if protecting her from the past she no longer wanted to face.
Seven years of love wasn’t something that could be erased overnight.
Julian knew that. He couldn’t force her to forget that man. But he could make sure she never had to suffer again.
Because a love that is steady and unwavering would eventually find its way into her heart.
When they returned to the courtyard
house c
was still playing chess with his
old friend. Just as Julian opened his mouth to speak, the door shut in his face.
He huffed, grumbling under his breath. “Hmph, if you don’t want me to come in, then I
won’t!
Choolar 16
22:07 Sat. 15 Mar M
won’t.”
Peter Taylor, his grandfather’s friend, burst into hearty laughter.
Zara shook her head, amused. Julian could act tough all he wanted, but deep down, he was still the same as ever.
His breath was hot against her skin, his lips brushing against hers, deepening the space between them, sending shivers down her spine.
“Stop kissing me,” she murmured, though she didn’t pull away.
Her soft, uneven breaths curled into the air, mingling with the tension between them. Her fingers tangled in his hair, feeling the warmth beneath her fingertips
It felt like the rustling of leaves in the wind, the whisper of something forbidden, yet
inevitable
“Zara,” his voice murmured with deep longing, “I’ll wait for you as long as it takes. But, please, don’t leave me again.”
“That year when you left, I thought about it a lot. I used to wonder–was it because I wasn’t good enough? That you didn’t like me? But for seven years, I went to Silvercrest to find you… and every single time, you refused to see me.”
“Zara was I really that terrible?” His voice was rough, raw with emotion. Beneath its low timbre, she could hear the bitterness and sorrow buried within him.
His fingertips traced the curve of her brow, her closed eyelids, her lips, his touch featherlight yet filled with meaning.
“You’re like a dandelion. The moment I try to grasp you, you scatter.”
His eyes, lost in the shadows, carried the weight of something deep and unspoken.
Zara thought, ‘He must have beautiful eyes.’
If the lights were on right now, she probably wouldn’t be able to resist kissing him.
The words I’m sorry sat at the edge of her tongue, but she just couldn’t bring herself to say
them.
Zara used to be unbearable, to the point that almost none of her friends liked her.
She had tried so desperately to earn people’s approval, but no matter how much she gave, no one ever truly liked her.
Maybe, just maybe, Julian had been the only exception.
Almost everyone liked Julian Hayes.
